Mr Fox -

Mr Fox was an English folk-rock band from London led by the husband-and-wife team of singer/multi-instrumentalist Bob Pegg and singer/violinist Carole Pegg. The band released a self-titled album on Transatlantic Records in 1970, followed by The Gipsy in 1971. Upon the couple’s divorce in 1972, the band split. Both Pegg’s subsequently recorded as solo artists. Bassist Barry Lyons later resurfaced in Five Hand Reel.

Members: Bob Pegg (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards), Carole Pegg (vocals, fiddle), Alun Eden [Alan Eden] (drums, 1970-72), Barry Lyons (electric bass, dulcimer, 1970-72), Andrew Massey (cello, 1970-?), John Myatt (woodwinds, 1970-?), Richie Bull (bass, 1972), Nick Strutt (guitar, 1972)

Background

Mr Fox formed in 1970 when the Stevenage-based folk duo of singer/multi-instrumentalist Bob Pegg and singer/fiddler Carole Pegg expanded into a six-piece band. Bob Pegg, born in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, in 1944, attended Nottingham High School and played oboe in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire County Youth Orchestras. Carole Butler, born in Nottingham in September 1944, learned classical violin before she took up folk fiddle. Bob met Carole at Nottingham Folk Workshop around 1960, where they formed a folk duo.

The pair married in 1963 and moved to Leeds, where Bob studied English literature at University of Leeds. Bob and Carole appeared on Midlands television and built a folk-club circuit beyond the Midlands. Transatlantic included three performances by the duo on the May 1965 sampler The Second Wave. Bob continued at Leeds with postgraduate research on folk music from the Yorkshire Dales and co-organized Royal Sovereign and Brig folk clubs in Leeds.

The Peggs met Fairport Convention bassist Ashley Hutchings in 1967 at a Leeds rock venue. Hutchings maintained contact with the couple as Bob collected traditional material through Leeds University research in the Yorkshire Dales. The Peggs moved to Stevenage in 1969, where Bob taught English and music at Stevenage College of Further Education. Hutchings left Fairport Convention that year and rehearsed with the Peggs on plans for a new electric folk group. Ashley Hutchings instead assembled Steeleye Span after the proposed partnership ended.

Bob and Carole recorded material with producer Bill Leader at Livingston Studios in 1969 for a planned duo album. Several tracks paired Carole’s fiddle and Bob’s melodeon with cello plus a bass-and-drum rhythm section. Bob based the expanded instrumentation on early twentieth-century village dance bands from the Yorkshire Dales. Bill Leader played the recordings for Transatlantic founder Nat Joseph, who signed the Peggs to Transatlantic Records.

The Peggs formed Mr Fox around the same instrumental plan with drummer Alan Eden and bassist Barry Lyons. They completed the six-piece lineup with cellist Andrew Massey and woodwind player John Myatt. The group took the name Mr Fox from an English folk tale about a woman who discovers the crimes of a murderous suitor. Mr Fox made its stage debut at Royal Festival Hall on October 16, 1970, ahead of the self-titled Transatlantic album.

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